Aboriginal movies & DVDs

Movies with Aboriginal content were rare before the mid-1990s. It wasn’t before the international success of the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence that the awareness for Aboriginal issues increased, even in Europe where this film was screened for almost half a year in Germany. Many of the films listed here are available on DVD or Blue-Ray.

Cinema is performance, that's how us blackfellas have connected with it. It's where we come from, with our storytelling. A lot of dreaming stories are about moral stories and news and teaching… that's the way Indigenous filmmakers are thinking.—Warwick Thornton, Aboriginal director [1]

Selected statistics

$7.5m

Box office result of Bran Nue Dae in July 2010, which is the second best of the past 12 months [3].

$3.2m

Box office result of Samson And Delilah in July 2010, which puts the movie in sixth place [3].

25

Number of documentaries in the 1980s with Indigenous credits [5].

275

The same number for 2000 - 2010 [5].

1.2m

Number of TV viewers who watched Bran Nue Dae. Same number for Australia: 0.978 million [7].

0/1

Number of feature films/TV dramas with an Indigenous Australian in a key role in the 1970s [4].

A lot of whitefellas in the press put shit on Aboriginal communities. That's one of the reasons why I make films.—Adrian Wills, Aboriginal director [2]

From traditional dreamtime tales to the challenges of contemporary Indigenous life, our film-makers give an insiders' view of what it means to be a Black Australian in the 21st century.—Rachel Perkins, Aboriginal director [8]

We’re not trying to educate people; we’re just trying to give them access to a life that they might not have ever seen before. That for me, is the beauty of what we do as filmmakers; that special thing of showing people a different world, and helping them one screening at a time.—Warwick Thornton, Aboriginal director [9]

Movies listed for research

Fact: The original versions of more than 90% of all Australian films made during the pre-1930 silent era are missing.

We've had plenty of so-called Aboriginal content created by non-Aboriginal producers, writers and directors. But the issue of Aboriginal control is paramount. Now is the time to invest in genuine Aboriginal screen culture as the unique film sector of tomorrow.—Michael Coughlan, director of an Aboriginal film skills training company [6]

Aboriginal actors eager

“People have to start from somewhere and you would be surprised how many Aboriginal people have a desire to be on the screen and give it a go,” says Aboriginal director Beck Cole. “If people keep casting the same people over and over again, we’re not going to build up that body of skills and people to draw on.” [6]

Fact Aboriginal actor Steve Dodd played a blind man in the movie The Matrix.